Panibagong Simula!

Mga kaibigan,

Ang nilalaman po ng blog na ito ay akin na pong ililipat sa panibagong blog na may titulong "liwanagnicristo.blogspot". Halos wala rin pong ganung mababago sa disensyo nito, subalit may mga karagdagang nilalaman po ang maidadagdag dito kabilang na ang mga libreng librong tumatalakay sa paniniwalang Katoliko, maging mga serye ng katuruan at pananalita na ibinigay ng mga kilalang Katoliko't hindi na naglalayong maituro ang tungkol sa paniniwalang Kristyano. Umaasa po ako na inyo rin pong susubaybayan ang naturang blog. Muli, nakasalin po ito sa Tagalog at hindi pa po ito ganun masyadong kumpleto pero akin pong susubukang tapusin ito at paglaanan na din ng sapat na panahon. Ang inyo pong lingkod ay humihingi lamang ng suporta na sanay inyo rin pong suportahan ako sa pamamagitan ng pagclick sa mga google adsense na nakalagay sa naturang bagong blog, dito ang akin pong malilikom na pera ay akin din pong gagamitin para pambili ng karadagang libro at iba pangbabasahin na makakatulong para mapalawak pa ang saklaw ng reperensya na aking pong mailalagay dito na magiging batayan ng mga diskursyong ibibigay dito. Nawa'y maging maayos at maganda ang atin pong magiging panimulain. Salamat at pagpalain nawa tayo ng buong Maykapal. 

Ang katotohanan sa likod ng siping iniuugnay kay Pope Leo X tungkol sa pagiging "katha" ni Kristo

 Pahayag

Pope Leo X: you are right about the translation but it has still the same implication with this one [The Pageant of the Popes in 1574: ]"For on a time when a cardinall Bembus did move a question out of the Gospell, the Pope gave him a very contemptuous answer saying: All ages can testifie enough how profitable that fable of Christe hath ben to us and our companie." The Pope in this case being Leo X.

*Ang naturang pahayag ay pinanatili sa wikang Ingles at atin pong bibigyang tugon sa Tagalog

(Unang Larawan)
Ang larawan pong ito ay ang pabalat ng librong The Complete Plays of John Bale
(Ang papa na nasa larawan ay si Pope Leo X).

Ang siping iyo pong tinutukoy ay nagmula kay John Bale at hindi direktang nanggaling kay Pope Leo X (Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici). Batay po ito sa librong The Pageant of the Popes, containing the lyves of all the Bishops of Rome from the beginning to the yeare 1555 na maituturing na parang isang Shakespearean’s play, dahil sa totoo lamang siya’y isang playwright, at ang kanyang Acta Romanorum Pontificum, usque ad tempora Pauli IV o mas kilala sa saling Ingles na The Pageant of the Popes ay maihahalintulad po sa ganitong klase ng literatura. Ang tungkol po dito ay kinumpirma ng librong The Complete Plays of John Bale (tignan ang unang larawan), kung saan mababasa sa naturang tala kay John Bale nasa kanyang palabas-dulaan, “[he], introduced a variety of matter satirise the Roman Church and parody its rises and customs.”[1] Ayon naman kay Mandenll Creighton[2], si Bale daw po’y

“... a man of great theological and historical learning, and of an active mind. But he was a coarse and bitter controversialist and awakened equal bitterness amongst his opponents (Catholic Church). None of the writers of the reformation time in England equalled Bale in acerbity. He was known as 'Bilious Bale.' His controversial spirit was a hindrance to his learning, as he was led away by his prejudices into frequent misstatements.” (Ang empasismo at ang salitang Catholic Church ay aking idinagdag)

Samakatuwid, ang ilan sa mga sinulat ni Bale hal. New Comedy or Enterlude concerning the three lawes of Nature, Moises and Christe, corrupted by the Sodomytes, Pharyses and Papistes, The Pageant of the Popes, containing the lyves of all the Bishops of Rome from the beginning to the yeare 1555, ay nakasentro hindi po para makapagbigay ng mabuting impresyon patungkol sa Simbahang Katolika, partikular na sa mga namuno dito, kundi para ito siraan at bigyan ng hindi magandang pakahulugan, dahil sa ito ay kanya ding itinuturing na ‘sang kaaway.

Dito makikita po natin ang klaripikasyon sa intensyon ni Bale para sabihing sinabi ni Pope Leo X ang tungkol sa maling sipi, at ito’y para sirain ang kanyang reputasyon bilang papa ng Roma. Ngayon, karamihan po sa mga reperensyang nagtuturo sa naturang pabula ay nagsasabing ang pinanggalingan nito’y si Bale lamang at wala ng iba. Nariyan ang Pierre de LaPrimaudaye’s The FrenchAcademie[3] (1586), John McCabe's A Rationalist Encyclopædia[4] at Pope Leo X. Ang iba namang reperensya ay walang pagkakakitaan ng pinagkuhanang reperensya bagkus maituturing pong mga sariling opinyon lamang. Ayon sa ilan pong naniniwala sa nasabing pabola, ang nasabing sipi ay nagmula daw kay Paulo Giovio sa kanyang Vita de Leonis X, bagama’t ang tungkol po dito ay matagal narin pong nasagot at napabulaan. Narito po ang ilang reperensya sumagot nito: una at ikalawa.

Kung masusi rin pong titignan ang nasabing librong The Pageants of the Popes, makikita po dito ang hindi pagiging “historical” nito kundi ang kanyang pagiging “fictional”. Ang isang halimbawa dito ay ang mababasa sa ibaba

“But to returne to Pope Leo: he made xxxi. cardinals in one day, wherby he got greate bribes and muche treasure, but the same day appeared manye horrible fightes and great tempestes arose, with vehement windes, thonders and lightninges, vehementlye runshinge upon the Churche where the Pope and his Cardinals were with such force, y it shooke downe an idol made for the picture of Christ like a childe in the lappe of the virgine Marye: also it broke S. Peters keyes out of his hand. These things were enterpreted to prognosticate the decay of the Popes kingdome, and thereupon many wrote bitter verses.” (Ang empasismo ay aking idinagdag)

Marahil ang sino man pong makakabasa nito ay hindi ito ituturing na katotohanan. Katulad po sa aking mga naging pahayag, katulad din po nito ang ibinigay na detalye ng Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance sa artikulo nitong More Christian Urban Legends. Ayon po sa kanilang inilabas

“These quotes appear fraudulent, and unrelated to any actual statement by Pope Leo X. They have the flavor of folktales. One evidence of this is than they have appeared in so many different versions with slightly altered wordings. Their origin appears to have been in a fictional work by John Bale.” (Ang empasismo ay aking idinagdag)

Sumatutal po, ang magiging tanong po ngayon dito ay dapat po ba natin itong paniwalaan kung ito po’y hindi naman totoo at hindi nararapat gawing basihan? Ang desisyon ay nasasainyo po.

________________________________

1 John Bale, The Complete Plays of John Bale (ed. Peter Happé), D.S. Brewer, 1986.
2 The Dictionary of National Biography Vol. III (ed. Leslie Stephen), London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1885. pp. 41-42.

3 Narito naman po ang sinabi ni William Roscoe sa kanyang librong The life and pontificate of Leo X (p.328) patungkol dito,

“John Bale, in his satirical work, entitled, The Pageant of Popes, in which, in his animosity against the church of Rome, he professes it to be his intention to give her double accourding to her works, has informed us, that when Bembo quoted to Leo X. on some occassion, a passage from one of the evangelists, the pope replied, It is well known to all ages how profitable this fable of Christ has been to us; (b) a story, which it has justly been remarked, has been repeated by three or four hundred writers, without any authority whatsoever, except that of the author above referred to.”

Tignan din ang James Patrick Holding, Shattering the Christ Myth, Xulon Press, 2008, pp. 173-75.

4 A Rationalist Encyclopædia: A Book of Reference, On Religion, Philosophy, Ethics, and Science, London: Watts & Co., 1948.

5 Ang siping ito’y nagmula sa Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th Ed., vol. xix, pg. 217, ngunit sa mismong artikulo walang reperensyang ginamit si Symonds kung saan wala itong tinukoy na pinanggaling.

Ang Tatlong Hari: Ang pagbisita ng mga "mago" (Mt 2:1ff) sa sanggol na si HesuKristo.

Tanong

Sa Mt 2:1f ang bumisita sa sanggol na si HesuKristo ay (mga) mago/pantas, paano pong natawag na tatlong-hari ang mga ito kung wala pong sinabi na sila'y mga hari? Ngayon, papaano po ba naging tatlo ang bilang nila kung sa saling Ingles ay wala namang binanggit na bilang?

Ang patawag po sa mga pantas/mago (μάγοι, magoi) bilang mga hari ay base po sa katuparan ng teksto sa Is 60:3 kung saan sinabing, "And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising." Ang mga hari po dito ay tumutukoy sa mga magong bumisita kay HesuKristo sa sabsaban. (Mt 2:1ff) Ang ganitong interpretasyon po ng nasabing teksto ay sinang-ayunan ng mga sinaunang Kristyano (Tertullian, Adv. Marc. 3. 13, vol. 2, p. 339; Adv. Judæos, 9, vol. 2, p. 619; S. Hilary, Pict. de Trinit. 4. 38, vol. 2, p.123; S. Jerome, in Dan. 2. 2, vol. 5, p. 498).[1] Maliban po dito, ang teksto sa Ps 72:10 ay nagpapahiwatig rin po sa pagdating ng mga mago bilang simbolikong representasyon ng mga hari, "The kings of Tarshish, and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba shall offer gifts."

Ngayon, papaano po ba naging tatlo ang bilang nila kung sa saling Ingles ay wala namang binanggit na bilang? Ang dami ng bilang ng regalong ibinigay kay Hesus ay tumutukoy rin, ayon kay F. H. Dunwell[2] sa bilang ng taong nagbigay nito. Ang konklusyong ito ay batay narin sa plurality ng salitang ginamit, ang Greek μάγοι (magoi), na isang noun, plural masculine. Ibig sabihin, dahil ang ginamit po rito na indikasyon na pantukoy ay ang plural μάγοι, malabo pong tumukoy lamang ito sa iisang tao. Ang mga larawang ebidensya ng arkeolohiya na natagpuan sa mga sinaunang libingang Kristyano, ang nagpapatotoo po ng bilang tatlo nito

Three shadowy figures (shown here, compare with photo of the Catacomb of Priscilla) approach the Virgin and child, 

seated at right. Dating to the mid-third century C.E., this fresco from the 

Catacomb of Priscilla is the earliest known image of the magi, which later became 

the most common scene of Jesus’ birth and childhood in early Christian art. 

Photos by Scala/Art Resource

(Jensen, R. M., Witnessing the Divine: The Magi in Art and Literature, BAS)

In this fresco, the three magi appear almost identical to the three youths. 

These fourth-century paintings appear together in the Catacomb of Marcus and 

Marcellianus in Rome. According to the second-century church father Justin Martyr,

the magi were pagan sorcerers and astrologers from the East. When they saw the babe,

they renounced their pagan ways. Like the three youths, they recognized the true God 

and refused to commit idolatry. 

Photo by Pontificia Commissione di Archeologia Sacra

The parallel between the three youths and the three magi is made sharper 

in a fourth-century sarcophagus relief from St. Gilles, in Arles, France.

Here, three eastern men turn away from a Persian official standing beside 

an idol and point toward the Star of Bethlehem. 

Sarcophages Chretiens de la Gaule

Ang pangalan ng mga mago ay mababasang nakaukit sa mago ng Ravenna mosaic at ito'y alinsunod narin po sa tawag rito ng Simbahan: Balthassar, Melchior at Gaspar (Excerpta Latina Barbari, p. 51B). Halos kaparehas din nito ang nakalagay sa ikalimang siglong Armenian infancy gospel kung saan inilista sila bilang Melkon, Gaspar at Baldassar.

_________________________________

1 Tignan din ang mga sumusunod na pananaw nila SS. Cyprian, Basil, Chrysostom, Isidore, Ven. Bede, Idacius sa sipi nila Maldonatus at Baronius.

2 Dunwell, F. H., The Four Gospels, An Interpreted by The Early Church: A Commentary on the Authorized English Version of the Gospel according to S. Matthew, S. Mark, S. Luke. & S. John, 1876.

Pope Benedict XVI has announced his resignation

Basahin ang ilang artikulo mula sa BBC na may kaugnayan dito.

 

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonisations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. 

After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. 

I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. 

However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to steer the ship of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me. 

For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. 

And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. 

With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

"Conversation with Oneself"

Conversation with Oneself

excerpt from The Three Ages of the Interior Life

by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.

As soon as a man ceases to be outwardly occupied, to talk with his fellow men, as soon as he is alone, even in the noisy streets of a great city, he begins to carry on a conversation with himself. If he is young, he often thinks of his future; if he is old, he thinks of the past and his happy or unhappy experience of life makes him usually judge persons and events very differently.. . . .

If a man is fundamentally egotistical, his intimate conversation with himself is inspired by sensuality or pride. He converses with himself about the object of his cupidity, of his envy; finding therein sadness and death, he tries to flee from himself, to live outside of himself, to divert himself in order to forget the emptiness and the nothingness of his life. In this intimate conversation of the egoist with himself there is a certain very inferior self-knowledge and a no less inferior self-love.

He is acquainted especially with the sensitive part of his soul, that part which is common to man and to the animal. Thus he has sensible joys, sensible sorrows, according as the weather is pleasant or unpleasant, as he wins money or loses it. He has desires and aversions of the same sensible order; and when he is opposed, he has moments of impatience and anger prompted by inordinate self-love. But the egoist knows little about the spiritual part of his soul, that which is common to the angel and to man. Even if he believes in the spirituality of the soul and of the higher faculties, intellect and will, he does not live in this spiritual order. He does not, so to speak, know experimentally this higher part of himself and he does not love it sufficiently. If he knew it, he would find in it the image of God and he would begin to love himself, not in an egotistical manner for himself, but for God. His thoughts almost always fall back on what is inferior in him, and though he often shows intelligence and cleverness which may even become craftiness and cunning; his intellect, instead of rising, always inclines toward what is inferior to it. It is made to contemplate God, the supreme truth, and it often dallies in error, sometimes obstinately defending the error by every means. It has been said that, if life is not on a level with thought, thought ends by descending to the level of life. All declines, and one's highest convictions gradually grow weaker.

The intimate conversation of the egoist with himself proceeds thus to death and is therefore not an interior life. His self-love leads himI to wish to make himself the center of everything, to draw everything to himself, both persons and things. Since this is impossible, he frequently ends in disillusionment and disgust; he becomes unbearable to himself and to others, and ends by hating himself because he wished to love himself excessively. At times he ends by hating life because he desired too greatly what is inferior in it.(1)

If a man who is not in the state of grace begins to seek goodness, his intimate conversation with himself is already quite different. He converses with himself, for example, about what is necessary to live becomingly and to support his family. This at times preoccupies him greatly; he feels his weakness and the need of placing his confidence no longer in himself alone, but in God.

While still in the state of mortal sin, this man may have Christian faith and hope, which subsist in us even after the loss of charity as long as we have not sinned mortally by incredulity, despair, or presumption. When this is so, this man's intimate conversation with himself is occasionally illumined by the supernatural light of faith; now and then he thinks of eternal life and desires it, although this desire remains weak. He is sometimes led by a special inspiration to enter a church to pray.

Finally, if this man has at least attrition for his sins and receives absolution for them, he recovers the state of grace and charity, the love of God and neighbor. Thenceforth when he is alone, his intimate conversation with himself changes. He begins to love himself in a holy manner, not for himself but for God, and to love his own for God; he begins to understand that he must pardon his enemies and love them, and to wish eternal life for them as he does for himself. Often, however, the intimate conversation of a man in the state of grace continues to be tainted with egoism, self-love, sensuality, and pride. These sins are no longer mortal in him, they are venial; but if they are repeated, they incline him to fall into a serious sin, that is, to fall back into spiritual death. Should this happen, this man tends again to flee from himself because what he finds in himself is no longer life but death. Instead of making a salutary reflection on this subject, he may hurl himself back farther into death by casting himself into pleasure, into the satisfactions of sensuality or of pride.

In a man's hours of solitude, this intimate conversation begins again in spite of everything, as if to prove to him that it cannot stop. He would like to interrupt it, yet he cannot do so. The center of the soul has an irrestrainable need which demands satisfaction. In reality, God alone can answer this need, and the only solution is straightway to take the road leading to Him. The soul must converse with someone other than itself. Why? Because it is not its own last end; because its end is the living God, and it cannot rest entirely except in Him. As St. Augustine puts it: "Our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee." (2)

________________________

1. See IIa IIae, q.25, a.7: Whether Sinners Love Themselves. "Since the wicked do not know themselves aright, they do not love themselves aright, but love what they think themselves to be. But the good know themselves truly, and therefore truly love themselves. . . as to the inward man. . . and they take pleasure in entering into their own hearts. . . . On the other hand, the wicked have no wish to be preserved in the integrity of the inward man, nor do they desire spiritual goods for him, nor do they work for that end, nor do they take pleasure in their own company by entering into their own hearts, because whatever they find there, present, past, and future, is evil and horrible; nor do they agree with themselves, on account of the gnawings of conscience."

2. The Confessions, Bk. I, chap. I. "Our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee." This is the proof for the existence of God through natural desire for true and lasting happiness, which can be found only in the Sovereign Good, known at least imperfectly and loved above all, and more than ourselves. We develop this proof in La Providence et la confiance en Dieu, pp. 50-64.

"How Lovely God Is"

 How Lovely God Is

excerpt from  A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom 

by Blessed Henry Suso

 (1295 - 1366)

 

The Servant.--Lord, let me reflect on that divine passage, where Thou speakest of Thyself in the Book of Wisdom: "Come over to Me, all ye that desire Me, and be filled with My fruits. I am the Mother of fair love; My Spirit is sweet above honey and the honeycomb. Wine and music rejoice the heart, but the love of wisdom is above them both.[3]

Ah, Lord! Thou canst show Thyself so lovely and so tender, that all hearts must needs languish for Thee and endure, for Thy sake, all the misery of tender desire; Thy words of love flow so sweetly out of Thy sweet mouth, and so powerfully affect many hearts in their days of youthful bloom, that perishable love is wholly extinguished in them. O my dear Lord, this it is for which my soul sighs, this it is which makes my spirit sad, this it is about which I would gladly hear Thee speak. Now, then, my only elected Comforter, speak one little word to my soul, to Thy poor handmaid; for, lo! I am fallen softly asleep beneath Thy shadow, and my heart watcheth.

Eternal Wisdom.--Listen, then, my son, and see, incline to Me thy ears, enter wholly into thy interior, and forget thyself and all things. I am in Myself the incomprehensible good, which always was and always is, which never was and never will be uttered. I may indeed give Myself to men's hearts to be felt by them, but no tongue can truly express Me in words. And yet, when I, the Supernatural, immutable good, present Myself to every creature according to its capacity to be susceptible of Me, I bind the sun's splendour, as it were, in a cloth, and give thee spiritual perceptions of Me and of My sweet love in bodily words thus: I set Myself tenderly before the eyes of thy heart; now adorn and clothe thou Me in spiritual perceptions and represent Me as delicate and as comely as thy very heart could wish, and bestow on Me all those things that can move the heart to especial love and entire delight of soul. 

Lo! all and everything that thou and all men can possibly imagine of form, of elegance, and grace, is in Me far more ravishing than any one can express, and in words like these do I choose to make Myself known. Now, listen further: I am of high birth, of noble race; I am the Eternal Word of the Fatherly Heart, in which, according to the love-abounding abyss of My natural Sonship in His sole paternity, I possess a gratefulness before His tender eyes in the sweet and bright-flaming love of the Holy Ghost. 

I am the throne of delight, I am the crown of salvation, My eyes are so clear, My mouth so tender, My cheeks so radiant and blooming, and all My figure so fair and ravishing, yea, and so delicately formed, that if a man were to lie in the glowing furnace till the day of judgment, only to have one single glance at My beauty, he would not deserve it. See, I am so deliciously adorned in garments of light, I am so exquisitely set off with all the blooming colours of living flowers, that all May-blossoms, all the beautiful shrubs of all dewy fields, all the tender buds of the sunny meads, are but as rough thistles compared to My adornment.

In the Godhead I play the game of bliss,
Such joy the angels find in this,
That unto them a thousand years
But as one little hour appears.

All the heavenly host follow Me entranced by new wonders, and behold Me; their eyes are fixed on Mine; their hearts are inclined to Me, their minds bent on Me without intermission. Happy is he who, in joyous security, shall take Me by My beautiful hand, and join in My sweet diversions, and dance for ever the dance of joy amid the ravishing delights of the kingdom of heaven! 

One little word there spoken by My sweet mouth will far surpass the singing of all angels, the music of all harps, the harmony of all sweet strings. My faithfulness is so made to be loved, so lovely am I to be embraced, and so tender for pure languishing souls to kiss, that all hearts ought to break for My possession. I am condescending and full of sympathy and always present to the pure soul. I abide with her in secret, at  table, in bed, in the streets, in the fields. Turn Myself whichever way I will, in Me there is nothing that can displease, in Me is everything that can delight the utmost wishes of thy heart and desires of the soul. 

Lo! I am a good so pure, that he who in his day only gets one drop of Me regards all the pleasures and delights of this world as nothing but bitterness; all its possessions and honours as worthless, and only fit to be cast away; My beloved ones are encompassed by My love, and are absorbed into the One Thing alone without imaged love and without spoken words, and are taken and infused into that good out of which they flowed. My love can also relieve regenerate hearts from the heavy load of sin, and can give a free, pure, and gentle heart, and create a clean conscience. 

Tell Me, what is there in all this world able to outweigh this one thing? For he who gives his heart wholly to Me lives joyfully, dies securely, and obtains the kingdom of heaven here as well as hereafter.

Now, observe, I have assuredly given thee many words, and yet My beauty has been as little touched by them as the firmament by thy little finger, because no eye has ever seen My beauty, nor ear heard it, neither has it ever entered any heart. Still let what I have said to thee be as a device to show thee the difference between My sweet love and false, perishable love.

The Servant.--Ah! Thou tender, delicious, wild flower, Thou delight of the heart in the embracing arms of the pure loving soul, how familiar is all this to him who has even once really felt Thee; but how strange is it to that man who knows Thee not, whose heart and mind are still in the body! O, Thou most heart-felt incomprehensible good this is a precious hour, this is a sweet moment, in which I must open to Thee a secret wound which my heart still bears from Thy sweet love. 

Lord, plurality in love is like water in the fire. Lord, Thou knowest that real fervent love cannot bear duality. Alas! Thou only Lord of my heart and soul, my heart desires that Thou shouldst have a particular love for me, and that I should be particularly pleasing to Thy divine eyes. O Lord, Thou hast so many hearts that ardently love Thee, and are of much account with Thee. Alas! my sweet and tender Lord, how stands it with me in this matter?

Eternal Wisdom.--My love is of that sort which is not diminished in unity, nor confounded in multiplicity. I am as entirely concerned and occupied with thee alone, with the thought how I may at all times love thee alone, and fulfill everything that appertains to thee, as though I were wholly disengaged from all other things.

The Servant.--O rare! O wonderful! whither am I borne, how am I gone astray! how is my soul utterly dissolved by the sweet friendly words of my beloved! Oh, turn away Thy bright eyes from me, for they have overcome me.[4] Wherever was there a heart so hard, a soul so lukewarm, so cold as, when it heard Thy sweet living words, so exceedingly fiery as they are, was not fain to melt and kindle in Thy sweet love! 

O wonder of wonders! that he who thus sees Thee with the eyes of his soul, should not feel his very heart dissolve in love. How right blessed is he who bears the name of Thy Spouse, and is so! What sweet consolations and secret tokens of Thy love must not he eternally receive from Thee! O thou sweet virgin St. Agnes, thou fair wooer of Eternal Wisdom! how well couldst thou console thyself with thy dear Bridegroom, when thou didst say, "His blood has adorned my cheeks as with roses." O gentle Lord, that my soul were but worthy to be called Thy wooer! 

And were it indeed possible that all delights, all joy and love, that this world can afford, might be found united in one man, how gladly would I renounce him for the sake of that name! How blessed is that man, that ever he was born into the world who is named Thy friend, and is so! Oh, if a man had even a thousand lives, he ought to stake them at once for the sake of acquiring Thy love. Oh, all ye friends of God, all ye heavenly host, and thou dear virgin St. Agnes, help me to pray to Him: for never did I rightly know what His love was.

Alas! thou heart of mine, lay aside, put away all sloth, and see if, before thy death, thou mayest advance so far as to feel His sweet love. O thou tender beautiful Wisdom! O my elected One! What a truly right gracious love Thou canst be above all loves else in the world! How very different is Thy love and the love of creatures! How false is everything that appears lovely in this world and gives itself out to be something, as soon as one really begins to know it. 

Lord, wherever I might cast my eyes I always found something to disgust me; for, if it was a fair image, it was void of grace; if it was fair and lovely, it had not the true way; or if it had indeed this, still, I always found something either inwardly or outwardly, to which the entire inclination of my heart was secretly opposed. But Thou art beauty with infinite affability, Thou art grace in shape and form, the word with the way, nobility with virtue, riches with power, interior freedom and exterior brightness, and one thing Thou art which I have never found in time, namely, a power and faculty of perfectly satiating every wish and every ardent desire of a truly loving heart. 

The more one knows Thee, the more one loves Thee; the more acquainted one is with Thee, the more friendly one finds Thee. Ah me! what an unfathomable, entirely pure, good Thou art! See how deceived all those hearts are that fix their affections on anything else! Ah! ye false lovers, flee far from me, never come near me more. I have chosen for my heart that one only love in which my heart, my soul, my desire, and all my powers can alone be satiated with a love that never dissolves away. 

Oh Lord, could I but trace Thee on my heart! could I but melt Thee with characters of gold into the innermost core of my heart and soul, so that Thou mightest never be eradicated out of me! Oh, misery and desolation! that ever I should have troubled my heart with such things! What have I gained with all my lovers, but time lost, forfeited words, an empty hand, few good works, and a conscience burdened with infirmity? Slay me, rather, in Thy love, O Lord, for from Thy feet I will never more be separated.

Eternal Wisdom.--I go forth to meet those who seek Me, and I receive with affectionate joy such as desire My love. All that thou canst ever experience of My sweet love in time, is but as a little drop to the ocean of My love in eternity.

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3.	Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 24, 26, 27; xl. 20
4.	Cant. vi. 5

"Of Compassion"

Of Compassion

excerpt from The Adornment of Spiritual Marriage 

 by Blessed John of Ruysbroeck

(1293-1381)

 

 

 

 

 

Out of kindliness springs compassion, which is a fellow-feeling with all men; for none can share the griefs of all, save him who is kind.

Compassion is an inward movement of the heart, stirred by pity for the bodily and ghostly griefs of all men. This compassion makes a man suffer with Christ in His passion; for he who is compassionate marks the wherefore of His pains and the way of His resignation; of His love, His wounds, His tenderness; of His grief and His nobleness; of the disgrace, the misery, and the shame He endured; of the way in which He was despised; of His crown; of the nails; of His mercifulness; of His destruction and dying in patience. These manifold and unheard-of sorrows of Christ, our Saviour and our Bridegroom, move all kindly men to pity and compassion with Christ.

Compassion makes a man look into himself, and recognize his faults, his feebleness in virtues and in the worship of God, his lukewarmness, his laziness, his many failings, the time he has wasted and his present imperfection in moral and other virtues; all this makes a man feel true pity and compassion for himself. Further, compassion marks the errors and disorders of our fellow-creatures, how little they care for their God and their eternal blessedness, their ingratitude for all the good things which God has done for them, and the pains He suffered for their sake; how they are strangers to virtue, unskilled and unpractised in it, but skilful and cunning in every wickedness; how attentive they are to the loss and gain of earthly goods, how careless and reckless they are of God, of eternal things, and their eternal bliss. When he marks this, a good man is moved to compassion for the salvation of all men.

Such a man will also regard with pity the bodily needs of his neighbours, and the manifold sufferings of human nature; seeing men hungry, thirsty, cold, naked, sick, poor, and abject; the manifold oppressions of the poor, the grief caused by loss of kinsmen, friends, goods, honour, peace; all the countless sorrows which befall the nature of man. These things move the just to compassion, so that they share the sorrows of all. But their greatest pain springs from this: that men are so impatient of this suffering, that they lose their reward, and may often earn hell for themselves. Such is the work of compassion and of pity.

This work of compassion and of common neighbourly love overcomes and casts out the third mortal sin, that is hatred or Envy. For compassion is a wound in the heart, whence flows a common love to all mankind and which cannot be healed so long as any suffering lives in man; for God has ordained grief and sorrow of heart before all the virtues. And this is why Christ says: Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. And that shall come to pass when they reap in joy that which now, through compassion and pity, they sow in tears.